Fantabulosa: A Dictionary of Polari and Gay Slang

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While there's no such need for a secret language for the LGBT+ community today, the same could not be said as recently as 55 years ago. Yet, for all the good that Round The Horne did for the acceptance of homosexuality, the more people learned about Polari, the less queer people wanted to speak it themselves. Decriminalization & Cultural Shift Llewelyn, Abbie (8 September 2019). "Princess never said 'naff off' -- 'We made it up' ". Daily Express. London . Retrieved 28 January 2022.

William Shakespeare used the term bona (good, attractive) in Henry IV, Part 2 (in Act III Scene II), part of the expression bona roba (a lady wearing an attractive outfit). [11] But "there's little written evidence of Polari before the 1890s", according to Peter Gilliver, associate editor of the Oxford English Dictionary. The dictionary's entry for rozzer (policeman), for example, includes this quote from an 1893 book (P. H. Emerson's Signor Lippo – Burnt Cork Artiste): [12] "If the rozzers was to see him in bona clobber they'd take him for a gun" ("If the police were to see him dressed in this fine manner, they would know that he is a thief"). [11] In 2019, the first opera in Polari, The Sins of the Cities of the Plain (based on the book of the same title), premiered at Espacio Turina in Seville, Spain. The libretto was written in Polari by librettist and playwright Fabrizio Funari and the music is by Germán Alonso. Niño de Elche played the main role. The opera was produced and performed by instrumental ensemble Proyecto OCNOS, formed by Pedro Rojas-Ogáyar and Gustavo A. Domínguez Ojalvo, with the support of ICAS Sevilla, Fundación BBVA and The Librettist. [32] JULIAN: Well, it depends on what it is. We’ve got a criminal practice that takes up most of our time. In 2012, I participated in a group effort to carry out the longest ever Polari Bible reading which took place in a Manchester Art gallery. In a nice touch of high camp we had to wear white gloves while touching the Bible, to ensure the oils from our fingers didn’t ruin the paper. We took turns reading lines such as: “ And the rib, which the Duchess Gloria had lelled from homie, made she a palone, and brought her unto the homie.” Translation: “And the rib which God had taken from man was made into a woman and brought to the man.” Lucas, I. (1997). “The Color of His Eyes: Polari and the Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence.” In Livia, A. & Hall, K. (eds), Queerly Phrased. Oxford: Oxford Studies in Sociolinguistics, pp 85-94.effeminate (possibly from Italian campare "exaggerate, make stand out") (possibly from the phrase 'camp follower' those itinerants who followed behind the men in uniform/highly decorative dress) In 1990, Morrissey titled an album Bona Drag – Polari for “nice outfit” – and the single “Piccadilly Palare”. a b c Mayhew, Henry (1968). London Labour and the London Poor, 1861. Vol.3. New York: Dover Press. p.47. In a period when homosexuality was illegal and heavily stigmatised, it was useful as a means of conducting conversations in public spaces, which would have alerted others to your sexuality. Many of the words allowed speakers to gossip about mutual friends or to critique the appearance of people who were in the immediate vicinity. While it was mainly used as a lexicon, some of the more adept speakers were so good at it, that it resembled a language, with its own grammatical rules, distinct to English. In 2010, Cambridge University labelled Polari as an "endangered language".

Ultimately, Polari seems to have gone out of vogue because it was, as Baker puts it, “ a relic of an oppressed time that people wanted to escape.” In the queer scene, people wanted to seem young and desirable, and by the late ’60s, Polari started to look a bit old hat.

Polari is also discussed in the following book chapters

But if there’s one person we have to thank for Polari’s preservation, it’s Paul Baker. Beginning his study of the language in the nineties, Baker wrote his doctoral thesis on the subject, entitled Polari: The Lost Language of Gay Men . His research, along with chapters on Polari in other academic books, laid the groundwork for Baker’s dictionary of Polari. And in July this year, Baker is publishing a new book on Polari — entitled Fabulosa! The Story Of Polari, Britain’s Secret Gay Language , this book is an in-depth history with plenty of fun anecdotes from Baker’s interviewees. In 1965, nine million people would regularly tune into BBC Radio every Sunday afternoon to listen to the comedy programme Round the Horne.

meese – plain, ugly (from Yiddish “meeiskeit, in turn from Hebrew מָאוּס repulsive, loathsome, despicable, abominable) Rough Trade – A working class or blue collar sex partner or potential sex partner; a tough, thuggish or potentially violent sex partner. While Round the Horne is attributed for bringing Polari into the mainstream, it could also be recognised for playing a part in its downfall too. a drink; something drinkable (from Italian – bere or old-fashioned Italian – bevere or Lingua Franca bevire) [37] :167 D'Silva, Beverley (10 December 2000). "The way we live now: Mind your language". The Guardian . Retrieved 5 July 2018.Definition for zhoosh – Oxford Dictionaries Online (World English)". Oxforddictionaries.com. Archived from the original on 11 September 2017 . Retrieved 9 May 2018.